Page 39 of Opposites (Never) Attract
See, look at that dedication. She cares about the firm more than anything else that’s happening in her life. We should immediately make her a partner.
That’s what I wished they might think.
The reality was, they would expect answers to their questions, family crisis or not. One of the partner’s assistants was answering emails in the labor and delivery room while giving birth to her first child.
It was a culture of total accountability and access.
I felt the noise fill my brain again. The pressure and need to constantly be working.
To prove myself.
Don’t ruin all my hard work.
Right. I put my phone away and tried to just…be.
Widow’s Peak, where we were sitting, was high enough I could look back at the town nestled in the valley. It was pretty up here. Nothing but blue sky and the high plains coming to life after a long winter.
Funny, the Gulch seemed bigger from the peak. Full of all those good people Tag was worried about who had no idea how vulnerable their lives were. If I refused to help the McGraws. Or worse, if I did help, and failed, how long would the Gulch hold on? Four years? Five? Less?
How long had today taken, anyway?
For my mother to sit me down, take a deep breath, and explain that once upon a time she’d been deeply in love with Leroy McGraw. And he’d been in love with her. Leroy had gone to his family, to explain that he wanted to marry my mom, and they’d told him if he did, he’d be cut off.
Leroy McGraw chose his family and money over Mom. And he went on to marry the woman they wanted him to marry.
It was everything that Harmony had already shared with me these past few months.
However, what I didn’t know, what my sisters didn’t know, was that the story hadn’t ended there.
And, apparently, Leroy and Monica hadn’t stopped loving each other. They had an affair, which resulted in my mom getting pregnant with me. But when Monica went to tell Leroy, he was already breaking things off with her because his wife was pregnant again.
So she never said a word to him.
Then my Dad showed up in town, and took one look at Mom, and didn’t give a shit that she was pregnant with another man’s baby. He had been committed to her and me from the start.
Which, of course, made sense, because Edward, my dad, had been the best dad ever. I’d never once, throughout my whole life, felt like he’d treated me differently from my sisters.
But, somehow, I’d always known I wasdifferent.
So, Leroy had always been suspicious about Monica’s pregnancy, but hadn’t confronted her about it…me…until he knew he was dying.
How did I forgive my mother for keeping this secret, or for dropping it on me like this? What was I supposed to do now? Did everything change? Did nothing change?
Tag put down a paper plate in front of me, filled with food. Burnt ends, beef ribs, brisket, with a massive piece of cornbread.
“This is too much food,” I said, even as I unrolled my plastic fork and knife.
“I asked for the small plate,” he said, and he took his seat across from me with his own massive plate of food. “I’ll take care of whatever you don’t eat.”
He let me pick through the burnt ends before he took off his sunglasses and hit me with his penetrating gaze.
“You ready to talk?”
I lifted a single shoulder. “What’s there to talk about, really? My mom lied, my dad lied. Mr. McGraw lied. Both my fathers are dead, so there is no point in wondering what could have been. It’s best just to be practical about the whole matter.”
He said nothing, just sat there watching me. His food growing cold in front of him.
“What?” I pressed. “You want me to collapse on the dirt and sob my eyes out? You want me to scream at the sky for being lied to by the people I trusted the most? What does any of that get me?”
